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Every athlete hates losing especially on the largest stage
in sports, the NFL Super Bowl. Cam Newton, quarterback for the Carolina
Panthers, set the record straight and he defends behaving like a ‘sore loser’
following the Panthers 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos.

During his post-game press conference Newton gave brief one
to two word answers. He kept his hoodie over his head and appeared to be put
out by the questions coming from the media. He then abruptly left the podium
creating a storm of criticism about this conduct.

Expectations on Self
and from Others Building Pressure

Newton took home the league’s Most Valuable Player of the
year award the night before the big game. Pressure from nearly all sides fell
on Newton. He entered the game with the momentum, Vegas odds on his side, only
one loss, the city of Charlotte highly hopeful, and anticipation from Panther’s
owner and team who had been to the big show before and lost.

His short and pouty responses after the game did not fit the
expectations of a leader and an MVP award winning professional. Nonetheless, the
26-year-old Newton continues to uphold his actions and believes the situation
was blown out of proportion. He indicates he would not have changed a thing about
his responses revealing his feelings were obviously raw and he did not want to
talk to the media. “When you invest so much time and sacrifice so much and
things don’t go as planned, I think emotions take over,” Newton said. “I think
that is what happens”(Associated Press, 2016).

Head Coach Ron Rivera who took home the NFL Coach of Year
award backs Newton’s choices. “He hates to lose, that’s the bottom line. That
is what you love in him,” Rivera said. “I would much rather have a guy who
hates to lose than a guy who accepts it. The guy who accepts it, you might as
well just push him out of your locker room because you don’t want him around”(Associated Press, 2016).

Perhaps, Newton takes losing more personal than most as a
result of the expectations of himself and the expectations from others to
perform.

In the past, the first round draft pick took hits from the
media early on in his career for sulking off to the side by himself during
games. In previous defeats, reports indicate the QB sat with his uniform still
on troubled and upset for more than 30 minutes after the conclusion of a game.
At times, Newton also let the media wait more than an hour before showing up
for his job required duty to address the media(Associated Press, 2016).

Failure Reveals Character

Perhaps Newton can take a few pointers from his counterpart.
Just a year ago, 27-year-old Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Seattle
Seahawks threw an interception at the goal line in the last few seconds of the
game. A costly mistake he took the blame for in his post Super Bowl interview.
“I put the blame on me, I’m the one who threw it. It’s something you learn from
and grow from,” he said (Wilson, 2015).

Unlike Newton, Wilson engaged the media after losing,
answered their questions in complete sentences, and did not appear to be
distraught nor a ‘sore loser’.The
young leader displayed a professional attitude and what sportsmanship looks at
every level.

Just two days after losing Super Bowl 49, Wilson, in fact,
was back in the hospital visiting sick kids. He said his recent big stage
debacle did not matter to those fighting for their life. “I think that to be
able to try to find a way to change people’s lives and to be there for them and
give them a boost is really important to me. They don’t realize how much
they’ve affected me” (Dicker, 2015).

Taking the focus off self and putting it on the opportunity
to give back to others is a hard sell after losing such an important game. The
contrast between failure with opportunity jerks common sense and
traditional thinking out the window. But that is exactly the difference between
an athlete of character and a sore loser.

Character Takes Ownership of Mistakes

Wilson exhibited this paramount rule in team sports as the leader
of his team. The 12th pick in the 3rd round of the 2012
NFL draft, Wilson owned the mistake that cost the team a Super Bowl victory. He
gave credit to his teammates for what they did right and the effort and
determination they gave.

Contrary, when the defeat is excused or blamed on others,
then it is much harder to improve and change. By acknowledging what went wrong,
it actually clears the mind, calms the negative emotions, and produces a more
coachable attitude towards advancement.

Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Summer Sanders failed to make
the 1988 Olympic team by .027 of a second. During an interview with the
Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a non-profit organization dedicated to using
the vehicle of sports to teach life lessons, Sanders recalled being in the lead
and then ‘freaking out’ and losing her mental focus to the finish.

She told PCA she spent the next four years using her failure
and learning from it. She testified the education from her breakdown was the
most important thing she did in swimming and in her career not winning the gold
medal, “If you can’t take an experience on the field, on the court, or in the
pool and learn from it and be better next time, then you are missing a huge
gift that sport’s gives you. I use that in my daily life every single day.”(Sanders, 2011).

In their recent book, Whatever
the Cost, former Major League Baseball players David and Jason Benham note success
is not a destination – it’s the journey. Throughout the book, the brothers
describe multiple failures, injuries, and difficulties as athletes. They boiled
down their disappointments as lessons in identity. “We learned that if you are
defined by what you do, then your success or failure at what you do will
dictate your self-worth. If you fail, then in your mind you’re a failure. Yet
nothing could be further from the truth. It’s impossible to die to a dream when
it defines you” (Benham & Lamb, 2015)

No One is Immune to Failure

Sometimes the darker the situation, the brighter the
opportunity. Author and speaker Steven Furtick in his book Sun Stand Still writes extensively about dreams that do not come
true. He suggests reputation is demonstrated by working through adversity rarely
in the removal of the challenge, “we must see past the danger and embrace the
opportunity in our crisis. (Furtick, 2010).

The fact remains, everyone, including athletes, experiences
failure. Adversity of loss is inevitable. The challenge to comeback from
failure presents a common experience by all humans. Cam Newton has been handed
a tremendous gift in this loss. As the NFL’s MVP, time will tell of what he
makes of this valuable opportunity.